12.18.24 American Healthcare Needs A Full Rethink / New Employment Challenges

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast – Episode Summary

Title: American Healthcare Needs A Full Rethink / New Employment Challenges
Host: Clark Howard
Release Date: December 18, 2024

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1. Tragic Event and Its Impact on American Healthcare

Timestamp: [00:47 – 07:57]

Overview: Clark Howard opens the episode by addressing the shocking and tragic murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of one of United Healthcare's operating units in New York. He expresses his devastation over the incident and delves into the broader implications for the American healthcare system.

Key Discussions:

• Murder of Brian Thompson: Howard discusses the unexpected and brutal nature of Thompson's assassination, highlighting the disturbing lack of empathy shown by some on social media platforms.

• Healthcare Industry Critique: He critiques the healthcare and health insurance industries for their practices of delaying and denying care to maximize profits. Howard emphasizes that such strategies can lead to dire consequences for individuals needing critical medical procedures.

• Systemic Issues in Healthcare:

  • Cost Inefficiency: The U.S. spends nearly a fifth of its national income on healthcare without achieving proportional health outcomes compared to other nations.
  • Lack of Consumer Control: Patients typically do not have a direct role in selecting their health insurance plans, as coverage is usually provided by employers or the government. This disconnect prevents consumers from effectively comparison shopping for better and more affordable healthcare options.
  • Unpredictable Medical Costs: Unlike other services where costs are known upfront, medical costs in the U.S. remain opaque, leading to financial uncertainty and burden on individuals.

Notable Quotes:

• "We spend far more, as I've talked about in the past, than any other country, even as a share of our national income, almost a fifth of it, our productive capacity is like one hand time behind our backs because we waste so much money on the healthcare part of the economy without good results." ([04:30])

• "You have to think about how you're going to pay your bills if that event happened to you. Again, most of us kind of have a sense where we work, how secure the job is, but if you're not sure or you know that, who knows what could happen?" ([06:50])

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2. New Employment Challenges Amid Low Unemployment Rates

Timestamp: [20:12 – 35:18]

Overview: Howard shifts focus to the current employment landscape in the United States, highlighting the paradox of historically low unemployment rates coupled with increasing difficulty in securing new employment after layoffs.

Key Discussions:

• Strong Yet Fragile Job Market: Despite low unemployment rates hovering just above 4%, Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to find new jobs after being laid off, with the average unemployment duration extending to nearly six months.

• Impact of Inflation: Persistent inflation continues to erode consumer confidence, even as employment numbers appear robust on paper.

• Preparation for Employment Gaps: Howard advises listeners to cultivate a "rainy day" fund to safeguard against prolonged periods of unemployment. He emphasizes the importance of gradual savings to build financial security without becoming overwhelmed.

Notable Quotes:

• "The job market still is very, very good. If you look back through history, I mean we have an unemployment rate in the United States just a little over 4%. There are times in my lifetime that if you said, hey, you know what, I bet you in the future we're going to have an unemployment rate of 4%, people would ask what you've been taking, you've been drinking something you shouldn't drink." ([20:22])

• "The day you resolve that, you're going to start building up that cushion, that reserve is the day that you start reducing the anxiety in your life and creating more security in that life." ([24:50])

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3. Listener Questions and Expert Advice

Timestamp: [07:57 – 35:18]

Overview: Clark Howard engages with his audience by answering various listener-submitted questions related to finance, investment, and personal challenges. Below are the key questions addressed:

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a. Dealing with a Faulty Fisker Ocean SUV Loan

Listener: Charles from Georgia
Question: After Fisker Inc. declared bankruptcy, how can he manage his $44,000 car loan when the vehicle's value is only $13,000?

Howard's Response:

• Legal Uncertainty: Clark discusses the ongoing legal battles where law firms are attempting to relieve Fisker owners from their loan liabilities, but he remains skeptical about the potential success of these efforts.

• Practical Advice: He advises owners to continue making payments if they can afford to, as repossession would leave them liable for the full loan amount without deriving any benefit from the vehicle.

Notable Quotes:

• "If you can afford it, keep paying for it. Because this is one of those things that a bad thing happened to good people. You just have to. If you can fight through it, hopefully." ([09:50])

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b. Protecting an Elderly Parent from Online Scammers

Listener: Tara from Georgia
Question: Her 78-year-old mother has been defrauded of $60,000 by an online scammer. What steps can they take to protect her remaining assets?

Howard's Response:

• Identifying the Scam: Howard identifies the scam as a "pig butchering scam," where scammers build romantic relationships to exploit their victims financially.

• Legal Assistance: He recommends consulting an elder law attorney, who specializes in protecting the assets and well-being of elderly individuals, rather than a general practice attorney.

• Immediate Actions: Urges Tara and her family to act quickly to secure the mother's assets and prevent further financial loss.

Notable Quotes:

• "Elder law attorneys are kind of in the high middle of cost per hour because it is a specialization. But the stakes of the game make it worth it." ([12:09])

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c. Booking Flights with New Airlines Like Breeze Airways

Listener: Chip from Massachusetts
Question: Is it safe to book a flight with Breeze Airways, considering concerns about the viability of newer airlines?

Howard's Response:

• Background on Breeze Airways: Explains that Breeze is founded by industry veteran David Neeleman and operates with modern A220 aircraft. While the airline has experienced financial losses, it maintains reliable operations.

• Risk Mitigation: Advises paying with a credit card to benefit from consumer protections, which can refund money in case the airline fails, even months after booking.

• Final Verdict: Suggests that while there is always a risk with new airlines, Breeze appears well-managed, and using a credit card can mitigate potential financial losses.

Notable Quotes:

• "David Neeleman is very wealthy himself, estimated to be worth depending on who you believe, somewhere close to half a billion dollars. This is a vanity project for him, you know, a new idea, new startup." ([14:22])

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d. Managing Retirement Accounts After Job Change

Listener: Andrew from Iowa
Question: At 22, he has questions about transferring his 401(k) to an IRA, selecting investments, and beneficiary designations with Robinhood.

Howard's Response:

• Beneficiary Designations: Highlights the importance of having an updated will to ensure assets are distributed according to his wishes if a primary beneficiary passes away.

• Investment Strategy: Cautions against excessive trading encouraged by platforms like Robinhood and emphasizes long-term investment strategies.

• Positive Reinforcement: Commends Andrew for his proactive approach to financial planning at a young age.

Notable Quotes:

• "A lot of people aren't aware that the beneficiary designations you create with a brokerage, a bank, a credit union, are superior to what you might indicate in a will." ([26:17])

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e. Concerns Over Simple IRA Contribution Limits Compared to 401(k)

Listener: David from Pennsylvania
Question: As a 55-year-old maximizing his Simple IRA contributions, he is frustrated by the lower limits compared to 401(k) plans and seeks advice on catching up.

Howard's Response:

• Systemic Issues: Acknowledges the complexity and lack of parity among various retirement plans, advocating for legislative reform to simplify retirement savings.

• Maximizing Other Accounts: Encourages continuing contributions to other tax-advantaged accounts like Roth IRAs and HSAs to bridge the gap.

• Praise for Saving Habits: Congratulates David on his commendable savings discipline.

Notable Quotes:

• "We have a jumble of Alphabet soup, alphanumeric soup with all these crazy retirement plans that you could have this 403B or 457B, or you could have 401K." ([32:28])

• "Is there any logical reason why you are allowed to contribute different amounts to one versus the other? No, there is no rational reason for it." ([32:33])

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4. Final Thoughts and Holiday Season Tips

Timestamp: [35:16 – End]

Overview: As the holiday season approaches, Clark Howard offers practical advice to listeners preparing for increased consumer activity, emphasizing financial prudence and stress management.

Key Discussions:

• Holiday Shopping: Warns against overspending and encourages listeners to maintain their financial discipline even amidst the festive rush.

• Stress Management: Advises staying calm and avoiding conflicts over trivial matters like parking spaces during the busy holiday season.

Notable Quotes:

• "The ultimate goal of everything we do here is save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off." ([35:18])

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Conclusion

In this episode, Clark Howard provides a comprehensive analysis of critical issues in American healthcare and the evolving employment landscape. He offers thoughtful solutions and actionable advice to his listeners, addressing both systemic problems and individual financial challenges. Whether dealing with the aftermath of a corporate scandal in healthcare, navigating the complexities of retirement savings, or safeguarding against financial scams, Howard equips his audience with the knowledge to make informed decisions and secure their financial future.

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For more personalized advice, listeners are encouraged to submit their questions at www.clark.com/askclark.

Transcript

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Google Gemini. With the Gemini app, you can talk live and have a real time conversation with an AI assistant. It's great for all kinds of things, like if you want to practice for an upcoming interview, ask for advice on things to do in a new city, or brainstorm creative ideas. And by the way, this script was actually read by Gemini. Download the Gemini app for iOS and Android today. Must be 18 to use Gemini Live. I've got a lot of grandbabies. Like a lot, a lot. And when it comes to finding a gift for each of them, you know, it's. But this year, while I was making my way through Walmart, I realized I don't have to spend a lot to get the gifts.

[B]

They'll love an OPI Mini Mani set. I'm gonna do so much nail art.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

A Lego set. My own Awala water bottle.

[A]

Ooh. And that's just half of them. Shop great gifts they're sure to love for $25 and under at Walmart. It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark where our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. I was shaken to my foundations by the brutal murder of the United Healthcare CEO. And it's created a lot of back and forth about what's going on with healthcare and health insurers in particular. I want to address that in today's episode. And later, there's a shift in the economy where employment still remains historically exceptionally low in the United States. But people who are being laid off from a job, many of them, it's taking a lot longer to find a new job than it has in years. And there are implications in that that we got to talk about. That's later. But right now I was devastated by the cold blooded murder of the CEO of one of the United Healthcare operating units in New York. I was so surprised by the people who express glee on a variety of social media sites about his cold blooded assassination. Brian Thompson was a man who in the healthcare world was in the news and had been a controversial figure to the general public. No one had ever heard of him. His death just really, really upset me. Even at the same time you've heard me rail on the insurance industry, and particularly the health insurance industry, on failing to act in good faith, using strategies to do just what were on those casings. Delay, delay, deny, deny. And on. This is clearly a problem with healthcare and health insurance in the United States that the insurers do A number of rope it up strategies, including as many of us are aware, evercore that is set up as paid for by the health insurers to look for reasons to deny care for individuals and understand the incentive of health insurers when somebody needs a complicated or expensive procedure operation, their economic incentive is to deny or delay approval, hoping that an individual will die so they won't have to pay for whatever it is. It is my opinion that that's really what's going on. But the problems with the health insurers are one part of a puzzle of things that I've talked about with you in the past that we have so much sand in the gears for healthcare in the United States, it's insane. We spend far more, as I've talked about in the past, than any other country, even as a share of our national income, almost a fifth of it, our productive capacity is like one hand time behind our backs because we waste so much money on the healthcare part of the economy without good results. The biggest problem though is where do we get our health coverage from third parties. One of the fundamental flaws here is you and I as patients are not the customer. Almost all of us get our coverage from either a large employer or we get it in some way from the government. Very few of us are making the decision what coverage we buy, what plan we have. We're getting it from someone else and they are the customer. The broken link in all this is that we don't have a system that is fundamental to making a free market work where you and I are the decision makers, where you and I decide we want to buy this, it's going to cost us this much and we're going to get these benefits someone else decides for us. And that creates so much of the dysfunction. Another issue that I've addressed separately but is also part of this problem of the extreme frustration Americans have about just these weird bills that show up in the mail from medical providers and all that is you and I buy services for medical care without knowing what they're going to cost. What else? Name anything else you do in your life where you consume a service before you know what it's going to cost and I defy you to find anything else that that happens with. So we've got so many things that have led to the problems with you and me ultimately in the end being squeezed either with care denied or with costs that are through the roof that we don't even know about because we have no effective mechanism in the United States for you and me to comparison Shop. This is a multifaceted problem that requires, if anything, a full rethink. Not celebrating the cold blooded murder of an individual. Instead, let's do what we need to do as a country to improve the quality of the results of healthcare in the United States and the ability for you and me as consumers to be the customer. And I have a lot of ideas about how I'd fix providing health coverage to people in the United States. Not enough time here to go into all of that. But the problem is not one problem. There are multiple elements that have festered and gone unaddressed that we need to address in the United States to improve our longevity, which is so pitiful compared to so much of the rest of the world, our overall health, and also the cost that healthcare represents as a share of our nation's economy. Because we don't compete just against ourselves. We compete economically against the whole world.

[B]

Okay, we'll go to some questions now. Charles in Georgia wrote this. Last year I purchased an electric SUV called the Fisker Ocean.

[A]

Oh, no.

[B]

Yeah. And financed it with Chase. My question is that now that the company has gone out of business, chapter 13 and 7, which no longer provide any service or warranty, it's 11 and 7. Okay. What is the best way to get out from under my car loan? My loan balance is $44,000 and the car value is 13,000. This is the case for about 7,000 USA owners in America. And PS, I have no gap insurance. PSS, Chase is being sued for something called the Holder rule since they were working with Fisker Inc.

[A]

So this is a novel legal concept. I've been reading about this for months. A law firm is trying to get the courts to relieve Fisker owners of liability on their vehicle loans because Chase was the like, almost like in house lender for people buying Fiskars. And I'm not a lawyer. It is a novel legal concept and I would be surprised if that's going to be the silver bullet for those of you as owners that Chase will end up having to absorb a lot of the value of the loans. The theory is that Chase, fully in business with Fisker, knew or should have known when they were making these loans to consumers that Fisker was not going to make it. Who knows? But I would be very, very surprised if that works. So what do you do as a Fisker owner? This is brutal because the ability to find spare parts, people who are able to repair the vehicles is going to be tough. You have something that you're essentially stuck with because if you just allow A repo of this vehicle. The financial consequences for you are really bad, ugly because you will end up being held liable for the value of it without being able to drive it. The value of that loan without being able to drive your 80% depreciated vehicle. So what I have encouraged because I've been asked by individuals out and about what I've encouraged people to do is just keep driving it. And if you can afford it, keep paying for it. Because this is one of those things that a bad thing happened to good people. You just have to. If you can fight through it, hopefully.

[B]

People enjoy driving them. It's so terrible.

[A]

I've never driven one of the Fiskers, the Fisker guy. It's an individual. It's a couple.

[B]

I did put a deposit down on one, by the way.

[A]

Did you?

[B]

But I didn't pull the trigger. I was too nervous. Yeah.

[A]

Is a creative genius. But this is the second incarnation of Fisker and both went insolvent. And so there are people that are brilliant minds. But it's hard to run an automotive business and they couldn't make it work either time.

[B]

All right. This is a tough one too. Clark. Tara in Georgia says, help Clark. My sweet 78 year old mother has fallen in love with an online scammer and has already lost $60,000 of her money by sending slash wiring it to him. It was all of her savings plus new credit card debt. Because she willingly sent him money or huge gift card amounts when he requested them. The police said they cannot take any action. She taken a line of credit against her home to pay off the credit card debt. My family has tried relentlessly to convince her that he's a scammer, but she doesn't believe us. We consulted a lawyer and got a joint trust to protect her home. The only thing she has left. But we're worried he could illegally take it from her because she's given him all of her personal information. We don't know how to help her any further. We're at our wit's end. It's really a nightmare.

[A]

This is happening way too much. This is what's known as a pig butchering scam. The whole thing with the romance, looking for people that are older and lonely. It doesn't have to be older, but so often that's where it is. I'm really, really sorry, Tara. Now, you went to a lawyer, but likely you didn't go to the right kind of lawyer to look at the overall picture for your mom. There is a rare kind of lawyer that specializes in what's known as elder law. There's even an association for elder law attorneys that you see a list available.

[B]

We'll put that in the show notes.

[A]

We'll put that link in the show notes for you. So Tara, you if you have siblings, you need to get in for a consult immediately with an elder law attorney to see what steps you need to put in place to provide full, complete protection for your mom. A general practice attorney could be well meaning and felt that this trust they designed was the best protection they could come up with. But an elder law attorney will deal wider with all the issues with your mom and we'll ask you and if you have siblings, painful questions about your mom's current mental capacity and all that. So you need to do this quickly. Elder law attorneys are kind of in the high middle of cost per hour because it is a specialization. But the stakes of the game make it worth it. And I hope to hear back from you how things settle out for your mom. And I wish the best for you and for her.

[B]

Yes, what is truly a nightmare. Well, we're going to lighten things up here with Chip in Massachusetts. Question he says, I'm considering booking a family trip in May on Breeze Airways as the value for the price paid looks excellent. My concern is around the viability of some of these newer airlines, especially since my trip is more than five months away. When he wrote this to us, do you think it is reasonably safe to book with Breeze at this time?

[A]

This is a great question. So Breeze was started and is owned mostly it's a privately held airline by David Neeleman, who's the guy who founded JetBlue Azul in Brazil, saved Tap Airlines in Portugal, was involved in starting WestJet in Canada and now Breeze. Breeze is a whole new concept from others he's done in that it's a discount airline that uses brand new state of the art aircraft, one of the most comfortable aircraft you can fly in the world, the A220. A lot of airline industry analysts are like how are they ever going to make money selling bargain tickets flying a state of the art expensive new aircraft. And so far they have to do filings even though it's privately held with the usdot. Breeze has lost a lot of money over its first three years. It is a very, from what I hear and what I read, a very well run airline, but very much a contrast to the other airline that started at the same time. You talk about newer airlines, Avelo, which is doing extremely well, also privately owned and Avelo and Breeze both use the same kind of business model, flying just most routes a couple of times, three times a week, and flying to a lot of leisure destinations that the full fare airlines don't fly on availo by buying and using used airplanes has made it to being profitable pretty quickly and runs by looking at DOT stats, a very reliable operation. So going back to your original question about buying a ticket on Breeze. So if you pay with a credit card, that normally gives you complete blanket protection for the first two months from when you purchase, but you're five months out. Historically, credit card companies have refunded money in the case of an airline failure, even if it is many months later. Now David Neeleman is very wealthy himself, estimated to be worth depending on who you believe, somewhere close to half a billion dollars. This is a vanity project for him, you know, a new idea, new startup, and he's got a lot of wealthy friends that have put money into it. So anybody could go out of business, any company could. But as far as Breeze failing sometime in 25, or even failing for that matter, there's nothing that says that anything like that is going on. So if you pay with a credit card, you do that as a first precaution, I think you'll be okay. It would be surprising to me if they did fail, but the reality is anything could happen. And it's a smart question you ask as to whether you should be concerned. You could wait till closer to your travel, take a chance on the fare, buy it within 60 days, and then you have no financial risk, not even a remote one, as long as you use that credit card. Coming up ahead, I want to talk about a shifting job market and what you need to know to protect yourself.

[C]

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[A]

The US economy is a big, big complicated thing, and the job market in the US has been the strongest in the world year after year after year. And coming out of the peak of COVID and 20 far and away the world's best economy, unemployment measures over the last few years have been unprecedented. How low unemployment spent? Americans have not felt excited about any of that because inflation undermines confidence like nothing else. So think of the irony. Inflation is a fraction of what it was during the peak during the COVID shortages. And at the same time employment is not as strong. The two have a correlation. But I need to tell you that the job market still is very, very good. If you look back through history, I mean we have an unemployment rate in the United States just a little over 4%. There are times in my lifetime that if you said, hey, you know what, I bet you in the future we're going to have an unemployment rate of 4%. People would ask what you been taking, you've been drinking something you shouldn't drink. I mean, people couldn't have imagined an unemployment rate that low. But people are finding that if their employer does go out of business, their employer gets into a little bit of difficulty and lays people off or anything like that, that finding the next job is harder. And it's not just thing that you feel, it's a fact. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal agency that tracks all this, finds that it's Taking the average amount of time is about, gosh, almost six months that people are unemployed after they lose a job. This is a big, big step up. You think about during the time period that employers were just wheezing trying to find any worker they could. Back a couple of years ago, and it was so weird. The employers were hiring people when they finished schooling if it was in a path that they wanted, were extending offers to people when they didn't have a job for them to do yet, and paying them to do nothing. We're not there anymore. And so it means to be prepared. That's the Boy Scout motto. Right? So what do I mean by that? You need to be really, really thinking about having that good rainy day account being prepared for a period of time of an oops in your life. Oops come in all different shapes and styles. But most of us, even if we have a lifestyle that we could do it, don't build up that rainy day money. But when I see stats like this from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing lengthy periods of unemployment becoming a new norm after you lose a job, even with only 4 point whatever percent unemployment, it means that you've got to prepare for how you're going to pay your bills if that event happened to you. Again, most of us kind of have a sense where we work, how secure the job is, but if you're not sure or you know that, who knows what could happen? Think about this. Be careful with buying things you don't have to have, but you just think they're fun to have. In other words, rein in your unnecessary spending to make sure you get to that point that you've got that reserve. And I know that you'll hear that you should have six months and living costs saved. Not earnings, but living costs saved. If you've got zero pennies saved, you're like, why would even bother? Well, nothing happens in a day. It's all about changing your perceptions and your habits. So if you got nothing, you should work towards a goal of having a month's living costs saved. When you get to that month, then you worry about the second month and on like that. But don't try to do it all at once because if you do, you're going to get discouraged and you're just going to give up. But the day you resolve that, you're going to start building up that cushion, that reserve is a day that you start reducing the anxiety in your life and creating more security in that life.

[B]

Okay, we're go to questions. This one's from Andrew in Iowa. I'm a 22 year old listener and I recently switched jobs and wanted to transfer my existing 401k funds into an IRA where I can continue to make contributions. I'm also interested in finding a high yield savings account, getting a high cash back credit card and investing in the stock market. Robinhood gold for only $50 a year offers all of that. However, a concern I've found with Robinhood is you can't list contingent secondary beneficiaries for your accounts. My question is, is beneficiary information if it's not supplied, or if my listed primary beneficiary, my wife, has unfortunately also passed, what happens then? Would having a will with more details make sure my loved ones receive the rights to the money in those Robinhood accounts?

[A]

Okay, so first of all, Andrew, at 22, all these questions you're asking, this is incredible.

[B]

It is.

[A]

Those 22 year olds are not where you're at yet. They're certainly not married yet too. That's right.

[B]

I wonder if. I was wondering if he meant he's been listening for 22 years, but maybe he is 22 years old.

[A]

Which way?

[B]

You'll have to write us and tell us.

[A]

Let's go with 22.

[B]

Yeah, he's been saving since he was young.

[A]

Well, because you said Robin Hood also, that tends to tilt very young people having Robinhood accounts. Okay, so you are probably the 10th person who's asked me recently about Robinhood golden, if you like. If you've been using Robinhood, you feel comfortable with it, you like it, doing gold is a good deal. You get the great credit card offer and it is a good thing. The problem with Robinhood that I have is it encourages a lot of trading, has a lot of negative implications. If you get into this cycle of a lot of buy, sell, buy, sell, buy, sell, and a lot of individual stock activity, which is not my thing. Can be your thing. It's not my thing. So if you like Robinhood doing Robinhood gold, great. The issue with who would inherit. So if you choose not to designate a beneficiary with a brokerage, then your will becomes the document. So as long as you keep your will up to date, that is in your case, a better way to designate what happens with your assets. A lot of people aren't aware that the beneficiary designations you create with a brokerage, a bank, a credit union, are superior to what you might indicate in a will. So you really want to think in terms of if you are concerned about secondary beneficiaries and Robinhood lacks the capability name no 1 as a beneficiary and then lay out in your will what you want. And also if you are 22 years old, not a 22 year listener. If you're 22 years old that you're already thinking about and having a will. I am so impressed with that too.

[B]

Absolutely. Shawna in Alaska wrote this. I'm leaving my current employer in five months and relocating to another state. In the meantime, I have the option to contribute to an employer sponsored.

[A]

Wait, I stop you right now. Leaving Alaska after you spent the whole winter there. And that's right when it gets beautiful. Oh man, you should have left Alaska before the winter came, right?

[B]

All right, so Shawna has the option to contribute to an employer sponsored 401k plan where they match up to 3%. Is it worth contributing for such a short period of time or would you recommend I open a Roth IRA with fidelity? For example, I currently have a 401k from my prior employer with Vanguard just sitting there without monthly contributions since I no longer work for that company. Also, I may work as a health care traveler next summer, so I likely will not be contributing to a retirement plan then, unless it's on my own accord. I'm getting older, mid-40s, so time is of the essence. Thank you, Shawna.

[A]

Okay, what you said is typical. So right now you got a 401k where you are, you're leaving that, you got an old Vanguard 401k where you used to work, and it's sitting there and we end up with these various accounts, especially now because people change jobs a lot more often than people used to. So you end up with these accounts scattered. So how would I answer the question? You got five months left. The 3% match that you have right now with this employer, you're going to be with the next five months if that 3% is immediate vesting, which means you don't have to stay blah blah blah, number of years for that money to vest. Or in a current year, you don't have to wait till January 1 and the following year for that year's employer match to vest. If you've got immediate vesting, then I want you to stay in that employer 401k for the 5 months until you leave. And that way you'll be picking up 3% bonus money on top of what you're contributing. On the other hand, if you check and you won't get that money vested, and so the 3% is a phantom match that you're not actually going to get then now is as good as any other for you to go ahead and set up your IRA with. You mentioned Fidelity, great new Fidelity, and set it up with them. And then the decision you got to make is whether you should do the Roth IRA or traditional. In most cases, unless you're earning massive amounts of income, single individual, more than a quarter million a year, you want to be in the Roth version of the IRA. Also in 401ks. Most employers now offer a Roth version of the 401k. Unless you're making that huge amount of money as a single individual, you want to be in the Roth version of the 401k. Wherever you work, it is harder with you being a traveling healthcare worker to keep up the habit. So set up automatic deposits into your own ira, whether it turns out to be Roth or traditional, so that the money gets there every single month because you got to build up that money for your retirement.

[B]

David in Pennsylvania says it's a 55 year old worker who has had access to a simple IRA as an employer sponsored retirement account since 2016. I'm upset as to why simple contribution limits are so much less than 401k limits. I heard you celebrate the lifting of the 401k contribution limits for certain older workers in 2025, but simple IRAs seem to be left out. Again. I contribute the max, including catch up to my simple, which I think comes to $19,000 this year.

[A]

Congratulations to you for saving that kind of money. That's fantastic.

[B]

Yes, these pending super catch ups for 401ks will increase the difference between simples and 401ks to more than $12,000. Thanks in part to you. I also contribute to other tax advantaged accounts including individual Roth and hsa. Why is there no parity among the employer sponsored plans? I feel like I'm being denied an opportunity that many others have to save. What else can I do to catch up?

[A]

What a great question. And you're doing all the things, by the way, the big, big gap that you were referring to. I think it's only for people 61, 2 and 3 years old. It's a very narrow slice of people in their early 60s. But you bring up something so important. We have a jumble of Alphabet soup, alphanumeric soup with all these crazy retirement plans that you could have this 403B or 457B, or you could have 401K. You have, there's even a 401A, you could have a SEP, you could have a Semple, you could have a Solo 401K, blah blah blah. And at some point in Washington because most the men and women in the House and Senate are pretty bright people. This is one that's been sitting there festering for a long time, simplifying and rationalizing how we save for retirement in the United States. And by the way, one thing about simples. Simple. There's nothing simple about a simple. It's crazy how complicated the rules are that you have managed to work your way through it and put all that money into it. You should be really, really proud of. Is there any logical reason why you are allowed to contribute different amounts to one versus the other? No, there is no rational reason for it. And that's why it would be great if the people in the people's house were doing the people's business and cleaned up the mess of how we do retirement savings in the United States. Just my humble opinion. But thank you so much for joining us on today's podcast. I hope that you learned something today that is useful. Helpful to you in your life. And we are one week from Christmas. Things get a little harried out there at the shopping centers this last week. Stay calm, keep smiling and don't get into a fight over a parking space.

[B]

Yes, get the steps in.

[A]

And remember, the ultimate goal of everything we do here is save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. We'll see you tomorrow.